Once again volunteers from the Woodstock Elks Lodge 1043 brought the Elks drug awareness trailer to the McHenry County fair. For the five days of the fair our members manned the trailer handing out our drug awareness materials to all that showed an interest. And there was much interest this year.
Wednesday, August 4th, PER Lester Bacon and lodge secretary James Ballotti traveled to Lombard, picked up the trailer, and hauled to the fairgrounds just before noon. Secretary Ballotti returned to the fair after retrieving his car, opened the trailer, and handed out materials to fair goers for the rest of the first day. The morning was rainy and the afternoon was muggy and the attendance was slow as is normal for the first day of the fair.
The trailer was located on the path leading to the petting zoo from the main food concessions and fair buildings. This location proved advantageous as many families passed by and were exposed to our message. Directly across from our location was an obstacle course and bungee jumping ride that was a favorite of young people. Many of the parents would look at our materials and take items for friends or family.
Thursday we opened the trailer at about 11:00 AM. Thursday was sunnier, dryer, and cooler, bringing out more people to the fair. We had more visitors to the trailer than we did on Wednesday and kept the trailer open until about 7:00 PM. With a fairly steady stream of folks walking by, we handed out dozens of pieces of literature.
Friday was better still. We opened the trailer at 11:00 AM and were busy all day long. Besides the child’s ride across from us Dave Watson, the wood carver was just down the road from us drawing many visitors to watch him perform his amazing art. Many of these visitors were also drawn to the trailer to view our offerings. Friday we kept the trailer open until 9:30 PM.
Saturday was just as busy as Friday. Besides the regular fair goers we also had some special visitors. Being an election year there were many candidates for various offices with booths at the fair handing out campaign materials. A few of them stopped by to applaud the work the Elks do.
State representative and lodge member Jack Franks stopped by with his two sons for a conversation with PER Lester Bacon and praised our drug awareness program. As a family man and a member Jack has long supported this important work.
Mike Mahon, candidate for McHenry County Sheriff, came by to learn what the Elks do in the county. As the father of four children, Mike told us he fully supports this type of educational effort to keep kids drug and alcohol free.
Finally, Sally Oeffling Wiggins, candidate for McHenry County Circuit Court Judge, stopped by, saw what we did, and applauded our work, saying that we need more of this kind of effort across the country.
One of the things that makes the effort of manning the trailer worth the effort our volunteers put out is when folks come by and tell us how thankful they are that we’re here doing what we do. We heard this many times this year from many of the folks who passed by.
For more pictures of the fair go to our gallery.
